The present invention relates generally to wound care treatment and systems for treating wounds. More specifically, the present invention relates to a system designed for alternating applications of vacuum and hyperbaric wound treatments to a wound site.
The patient care industry is continually searching to provide better services, reduce costs, and improve the equipment used to provide the best possible care to the patients. One such way to advance patient care is to improve the treatment of chronic and acute wounds and various types of therapies to treat these wounds. One of two types of treatments is often used to treat chronic and acute wounds: negative pressure therapy or hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
Negative pressure therapy is the controlled application of sub-atmospheric pressure to a wound using a therapy unit, such as a vacuum or suction device, to expose a wound to negative pressure to help promote wound healing. The wound is typically covered to facilitate this negative pressure and suction at the wound area. Various types of resilient, open cell foam surface dressings are typically sealed within an adhesive drape to provide the sub-atmospheric pressure at the wound site. The exudates drained from the wound site are normally directed to a canister that stores the fluids and/or infectious material until properly disposed. The negative pressure wound therapy has been typically prescribed for chronic and acute wound types such as diabetic wounds, pressure ulcers, abdominal wounds, trauma wounds, various burns, flaps and grafts. One of the limitations of negative pressure therapy is that it may be less effective on patients with vascular disorders, such as diabetes, particularly because negative pressure therapy creates a hypoxic environment at the wound. Current research indicates that wound healing is impaired when the oxygen level is 30 millimeters of mercury (mmHg) or less.
Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is the controlled application of greater-than-atmospheric pressures of oxygen to a wound. Oxygen is typically required for all new cell growth, and chronic or non-healing wounds tend to exhibit low oxygen tensions, or tend to be ischemic. A wound can become dormant if the amount of wound tissue that is poorly oxygenated reaches a critical mass. In this state, the body may no longer recognize the need to heal that area, which exacerbates the lack of oxygen in that wound and thus substantially prevents healing of the wound by the body. Oxygen therapy is particularly useful for patients with poor circulation. In addition to helping kill bacteria, oxygen applied to an open wound at a hyperbaric level is dissolved into the wound and absorbed by the surface wound tissue. The cells of the wound tissue that absorb the oxygen will begin metabolic activity in response to the increased oxygen tension. Once the oxygen source is removed, the previously active cells request more oxygen from the body. The body responds by beginning to form new blood cells, and thus, starting the healing process.
Typically, hyperbaric oxygen therapy is performed by placing the patient into a hyperbaric chamber that encompasses the full body of the patient or an entire extremity, such as a leg or an arm. Such chambers are problematic due to their lack of portability, the difficulty in sterilization of the chambers between patients, and the potential adverse effects of breathing oxygen at hyperbaric pressure. It would be preferable if the hyperbaric oxygen treatment were localized at the wound rather than applied to the patient's entire body or extremity.
While both negative pressure and hyperbaric oxygen therapies are each believed to be effective when administered as separate wound care treatments, many patients may benefit from a treatment plan incorporating both negative pressure and hyperbaric oxygen therapies. Because existing hyperbaric oxygen treatment is typically performed in a hyperbaric chamber, switching between negative pressure therapy and hyperbaric oxygen therapy is a long process. Before entering a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, a patient would first have to be disconnected from the negative therapy device and the negative pressure therapy dressing—which typically includes packing materials, a drain, tubing, and sealing material—would have to be removed. Then, following hyperbaric oxygen treatment, a new negative pressure dressing would have to be applied. These procedures are wasteful and time-consuming, making it difficult, if not impossible, to alternate between negative pressure therapy and hyperbaric oxygen therapy every few minutes or less.
In current hospital settings, portable vacuum pumps are often rented or purchased for the purpose of performing negative pressure therapy. Theses suction pumps rented for this procedure called negative pressure wound therapy can rent for $70.00 or $80.00 per day per device and have a cumulative effect of driving up our national health care costs by over one billion dollars. In addition, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/602,653, filed Nov. 21, 2006, the entirety of which is also incorporated by reference herein, discloses a combination negative pressure therapy and hyperbaric oxygen therapy treatment system.
The present invention relates to an improved systems and methods for healing wounds.